RIO DE JANEIRO, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The CEO of Brazil's state-run oil giant Petrobras resigned on Friday following a crippling and prolonged strike by truckers protesting the high cost of fuel.
Truckers were demanding lower fuel prices, tax breaks on fuel expenses and the ouster of Pedro Parente, who was appointed to lead the company two years ago after a massive corruption investigation led to a management shake up.
Brazilian President Michel Temer's government agreed to temporarily lower fuel prices in a bid to end the strike, a move that Parente opposed.
In a statement, Petrobras said the company's board of directors was meeting on Friday to study the possibility of naming a temporary replacement.
"The composition of the rest of the members of the executive board remains the same," the company said.
Parente met with Temer earlier in the day to personally inform him of his decision to step down, writing in a letter to the president that the paralyzing strike had "called into question" the new pricing policy he implemented at Petrobras.
"It is clear that my remaining as CEO of Petrobras stopped being positive and helpful to the construction of the alternatives that lie ahead for the government," he added.
Liberalizing fuel prices to reflect international market rates and passing the increases on to consumers was one of Parente's first moves at Petrobras, which had long capped the price of fuel as a way to control inflation.
Truckers called a nationwide strike on May 21 that brought Brazil to a standstill, causing shortages of fuel that grounded hundreds of domestic flights.
Parente's unpopular policy did succeed in improving the company's financial health. After four years of operating in the red, Petrobras registered a net profit of 6.961 billion reals (about 1.96 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of 2018, a 56-percent increase over the same period the year before.
